Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 22:21 
Context22:21 the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing 1 in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge 2 evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 25:9
Context25:9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. 3 She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” 4
1 tn The Hebrew term נְבָלָה (nÿvalah) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13. Cf. NAB “she committed a crime against Israel.”
2 tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
3 sn The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7-8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). See W. Bailey, NIDOTTE 2:544.
4 tn Heb “build the house of his brother”; TEV “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; NLT “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”
